The Downside of Being in The NFL

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
The NFL is interesting because it's one of those sports that there really is no offseason, I feel like. You go from OTAs, well, really the draft, the draft really kicks off. But before the draft, you have the combine, where people are still working. And they have a veterans combine now, right?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
Yeah, so we, I mean, we're working, we've been working as a team, as a unit since April 8th of this year. And the combine was before that, the veteran, I mean, the draft is in, what, late?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:33)
It was April this year.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:34)
Late April, sorry.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:35)
Late April this year.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:37)
So yeah, no, I mean, you're pretty much working all year, right?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:40)
All year, right?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:40)
I mean, you know, the only, even when you're not, even when you're away from the facility, you know, you can't take, you can only take so much time off. There's some guys who find a way to take off a couple months and all that stuff, but like by the time you didn't let your body get out of shape and all that type of stuff. So, I mean, even when you're not, quote unquote, working, you're working, right? Because, I mean, your body is, your asset, and we all, I mean, even if you're not an exercise enthusiast, you know how quickly you can get out of shape, right? It only takes a week. Taking a whole year to get in shape, you take a week off and you go.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:16)
Now, I brought that up because you had an injury while you were in Detroit and it kind of like changed the forecast. It'll probably get into that in that segment. But what was it, a torn?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:28)
Torn peck.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:28)
Torn peck. And during that time, it was like, you know what? Let me focus on some other things, right? Because I think you went to the veteran combine and you impressed some people.
And they were like, wait, this guy was a four or five. Oh, we need to bring him in. But you had to, Detroit brought you in, but you got hurt.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:44)
Yeah. So, yeah, let me go ahead and just attack the story. So, year one, rookie practice squad. Like I said, we had said earlier, I got cut after week four. A few weeks later, with the Tennessee Titans got cut, they picked me up back up the next week and let me through the season. But you're like, dang, this is kind of fickle.
So, in year two, I'm going into it, I'm like, okay, hey, like, you know, I got my foot in the door. Now I know what to expect. You know, this should be not a walk in the park, but like, I know what to expect, right? I was a long shot last year. Now I'm not a vet, but I'm, you know, I know what I'm going into this year.
Make the team, make the practice squad. I'm there for two weeks. We had new coaching staff and all that stuff. Two weeks and then after that, I get cut. So I'm like, okay, it'll be similar to last year. Somebody will call me next week or something. No call, nothing going on, right? This is my second year. I'm like, what's going on, man, you know? Okay, so I'm working out, working out, working out, changing my body, I'm working out, working out, working out. It just keeps staying focused, staying on task. I remember Sunday nights watching the other people play and just like, just running on the treadmill, right?
So during that time though, you know, you go on September 14th, 15th through January, no call, no check, no anything, right? And so I'm like, all right, during that time, I'm like, you know, you got to figure out what your life is going to look like. For me, that was a big slap in the face of like, I mean, I always knew it, but that was a big shaking of like, this, you really can never put yourself in a position where you're dependent on the Tennessee Titans, the Baltimore Ravens at that time to give me a check, right? Like, I got to provide, right? So, I gave myself a year at that point, because I knew I could play in the NFL. It would be one thing if I went up there and I was like, man, I'm getting tossed around like a little schoolboy, right? Like, I'm like, no, I can play in the NFL and I can be good. So, I'm going to give myself one year and I'm going to do everything in my power to make it. In that March, there was a Veterans Combine, The Way God Works, there was a Veterans Combine, that was the only year they ever did it. They didn't have it before, they stopped it after, it was a thousand or like a thousand people, over a thousand guys tried to get in.